Term-paper on Supply chain management system of Unilever

Acknowledgement

It is our concession to thank .................., Senior lecturer of Department of Business Administration, ............... University for rendering us her expertise knowledge and giving the opportunity of practical experiences through this term paper.

Practical Knowledge is fundamental for the application of theoretical intelligence. Being this in mind the course teacher assigned to prepare this assignment to the students of the course “Enterprise Information System”. We cordially thank the honorable teacher to provide us the opportunity to apply class room learning practice. This term paper bridges the gap between them.

We also convey our deep gratitude to those people who have helped us to collect this information and supported us.

Letter of Transmittal

^{Date ....................}

............... Senior Lecturer

Department Of Business Administration

....................University

Subject: Submission of Term Paper

Dear Madam,

With the due respect it is our pleasure to present the term paper on “Supply chain management system”. While preparing the report we have tried our level best to focus closely on the topic and try to collect most complete and updated information available. We believe that it will provide a clear idea about Supply chain management system of an organization.

To prepare this term paper, we have given best effort to accumulate needed information.

We will be available to answer any question for clarification. Thank you for your sincere support.

Sincerely yours,

On behalf of the group

......................................

Executive summary

Bangladesh Unilever Ltd. Unilever is a multinational company. They have been a major player in Bangladesh FMCG market with its strong brands like Kisaan, Knorr, Quality walls, Brook bond, Lipton, Bru etc. in Food & beverages division; Wheel, Rin, Surf Excel, Lifebuoy, Dove, Sunsilk etc in Home & Personal care division.

Institutional Business as this market is termed has Nestle and RAK ceramic Diversy as the major players in beverages and home care categories respectively for the last few decades, HUL has entered in this market segment in the last two years and is expected to gain a good market share down the line in next few decades.

We mainly focus on how does the company maintain its supply chain through using an supply chain management, how the company’s applications are electronically integrated with back office information system and database to share inventory data it’s selling partners, how the firm maintain its Information Technology and abrupt change in organization structure and supply chain, and how the firm handle the relationship with it upstream and downstream partners. After all our main focus was around the supply chain management of the company. 

Chapter- 01

Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Unilever Bangladesh is a company that has its own history intrinsically built with the development of our nation and our culture. It has been part of the Bangladeshi household since the 19th century with the same intention of bringing cleanliness and convenience to households as we do today. Back then Sunlight soap was marketed through Lever Brothers India limited throughout the undivided India. Later on, Lever Brothers Pakistan limited started its operation in Bangladesh on a larger scale. In 1964, our soap manufacturing facility was setup in Kalurghat, Chittagong.

With time it gradually evolved and diversified into manufacturing personal products like skin care creams, toothpastes, shampoos, detergent powders, and so on. Accumulating manufacturing experience over 40 years, we have a legacy of leading the market with international brands offered at affordable prices. Today, with 13 different brands in 8 different categories, Unilever Bangladesh stands as one of the most progressive partner in development for the Government of Bangladesh.

1.2 Background of the study

The main objective of the study to utilize my theoretical knowledge in realm of marketing world to understand the complex/ competitive market situations and gain experience with the organization, where I utilize four weeks time to understand the difference between practical and theoretical knowledge.

The study has been conducted to understand the detail study of all the aspects of retailing concerned with the HUL’s vending machine. The specific objective, which under taken in my study, is to understand the corporate sale, the competitive brands of HUL’s vending machine and walk through the product sale in corporate world which reflect my own personal views and measures even the nearby areas with hidden opportunity.

1.3 Methodology

A variety of research methods were employed to fully capture the performance of Unilever and Square of their sustainable agriculture practice. Unilever was used as an in-depth case study for the thesis. Given the nature of the data made available from Unilever’s suppliers, both qualitative and quantitative assessments were carried out. Descriptive statistical techniques were used to carry out a quality assessment of the data. Furthermore interviews were also carried out with key persons in the relevant departments in Unilever, and the businesses that they are working in collaboration with to design the latest version of their Sustainable Agriculture self-assessment (version 2.0).

Combining current literature on sustainable agriculture indicators from academia and industry, with the qualitative and quantitative data assessment carried out on the results from Unilever’s and Square self-assessment tool provides an effective means of determining the strength of Unilever’s and Square metrics. Moreover the qualitative information gathered from conversations and interviews provided a deeper insight into the various issues the food sector faces in understanding and answering key sustainability concerns.

This research is prepared both with primary data and secondary data.

Data Collection

Both primary data and secondary data were collected to organize this report. But the report is basically emphasized on secondary data.

Primary Data were collected from the informal discussion with the manager of the organization.

Secondary Data was collected from different sources e.g. annual report of the organization, web sites, reports, prospectus, journals, newspaper etc

1.4 Limitation of the study

Although I have got co-operation from manager of Unilever and Square, the major limitations that the study faced during the study period are spot lighted below:

Ø  The major problem I have faced is lack of understanding.

Ø  Unilever & square one is international another one is local but they are so busy so, it is           very much tough for me to allocate time for collecting data and taking interview of the manager.

Ø  As most of the data is collected from secondary sources, there was very little opportunity to analysis data.

Ø  Time constraint is one of the problems, for which it has been difficult for us to gather enough knowledge.

Ø  Intense Political instability is one of the prominent problem that we face while preparing the term paper.

Chapter- 02

2.1 History

Unilever Bangladesh is a company that has its own history intrinsically built with the development of our nation and our culture. It has been part of the Bangladeshi household since the 19th century with the same intention of bringing cleanliness and convenience to households as we do today. Back then Sunlight soap was marketed through Lever Brothers India limited throughout the undivided India. Later on, Lever Brothers Pakistan limited started its operation in Bangladesh on a larger scale. In 1964, our soap manufacturing facility was setup in Kalurghat, Chittagong.

 

With time it gradually evolved and diversified into manufacturing personal products like skin care creams, toothpastes, shampoos, detergent powders, and so on. Accumulating manufacturing experience over 40 years, we have a legacy of leading the market with international brands offered at affordable prices. Today, with 13 different brands in 8 different categories, Unilever Bangladesh stands as one of the most progressive partner in development for the Government of Bangladesh.

1964-1972

Productions started off with Sunlight soap and Lifebuoy soap. After the war of independence in 1971, Bangladesh became an independent country. At this time, Lever Brothers Bangladesh Ltd. was constituted with Unilever owning 60.75% shares and the Government of Bangladesh owning the remaining 39.25% shares.

1972-1980

Post liberation period evidenced accelerated growth for the company. Demand started rising and the company continued its mission to meet consumer needs by producing quality soaps, introducing Lux - the beauty soap and Wheel. Launched in 1972 Wheel entered the merchandised laundry category, traditionally dominated by cottage soaps. It appealed to the consumers with unique care benefits for hand and fabric, a generic weakness in cottage soaps. It gradually became the secret ally of Bangladeshi women by extending the caring hand to ease her daily laundry chores.

1980-1990

The early eighties witnessed expansion of the company through diversification. Calibrating direction, the mission now included enhancing quality of life through other personal products aspiring aestheticism like sparkling white teeth, fresh breath, beautiful hair, and glowing skin. A Personal Product Plant was established to manufacture shampoo, toothpaste, and skin care creams. Sun silk Shampoo, Close-up Tooth paste, Fair and Lovely for skin care and Vim for dish washing was produced and marketed to bring great international and regional formulations to Bangladeshi households at affordable prices. 1989 heralded the beginning of a fairy tale story – the initiation of LUX photogenic contest that brought the real life experience of glamour, fame and fortune to the doorsteps of young girls throughout the country.

1990-1998

In the early 90's Unilever Bangladesh entered the tea-based beverage market introducing Lipton Taaza, Lever's flagship packet tea brand, with the objective to be the most preferred tea of the Bangladeshi consumers. World renowned Pond’s cream and Pepsodent – the dental hygiene expert began to be manufactured from our Kalurghat factory. Washing drudgeries of the busy homemakers were washed away with the introduction of Wheel washing powder and Surf Excel for premium wash. In 1996-1997, our manufacturing facility owned and run by a third party was set up outside Dhaka for wheel washing powder. With formulations suitable for local conditions, the washing powder concept brought about a huge revolution in fabric washing habits in the country.

1998-2004

These are the golden years in the history of Unilever Bangladesh as the company turned around from severe losses due to competitive backlash - to a company with 6 years of consecutive growth. Around the end of November 2001, our new personal products factory “Sankalp” in Kalurghat started production which helped us meet the market needs from a shift on our dependence on soaps to diverse personal grooming categories.

This is also the era when Unilever Bangladesh introduced many exciting new products such as Pond’s face wash to end soap related facial skin woes or Lipton double chamber tea bags for more zest in our tea cups and the markets responded enthusiastically. In 2001, we brought about a new excitement in the kitchen care sector with the introduction of Vim bar, the dish cleaning soap – a concept of convenience and common household habits combined together.

In 2002 Rexona deodorant entered the market building in awareness about body odor problems and creating a new personal grooming habit in the country. The company’s soap formulations changed radically during this time to bring in world class standards – without any price rises. Lifebuoy, the health brand has moved from just the hard-working men’s soap to reminding one, of the bond of love that binds a family in a healthy circle, free of germs and sickness. In 2004, as a new variant, bringing in the goodness of Neem – an Ayurvedic medical marvel, Lifebuoy has reinstated its earnest Endeavour to be ahead of consumer’s needs.

In the span of these six years, we gathered many accolades (link to awards page) to certify our fast paced move towards world class performance. Unilever Bangladesh had a journey towards adding new impetus to its trade marketing and today our products are available in 90% of the households in Bangladesh.

In a companywide move to come out from behind the great brands and be known as Unilever worldwide, Lever Brothers Bangladesh limited officially changed its name to Unilever Bangladesh in December 2004.

2.2 Unilever Vision

Unilever products touch the lives of over 2 billion people every day – whether that's through feeling great because they've got shiny hair and a brilliant smile, keeping their homes fresh and clean, or by enjoying a great cup of tea, satisfying meal or healthy snack.

To make cleanliness a commonplace; to lessen work for women; to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness, in order that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use the products.

2.3 Unilever Mission

Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. They meet everyday needs for nutrition; hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.

2.4 A clear direction

The four pillars of our vision set out the long term direction for the company – where we want to go and how we are going to get there:

• We work to create a better future every day
• We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.
• We will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world.
• We will develop new ways of doing business that will allow us to double the size of our company while reducing our environmental impact.

We've always believed in the power of our brands to improve the quality of people’s lives and in doing the right thing. As our business grows, so do our responsibilities. We recognize that global challenges such as climate change concern us all. Considering the wider impact of our actions is embedded in our values and is a fundamental part of who we are.

2.5 Unilever today

Unilever brands are trusted everywhere and, by listening to the people who buy them, they’ve grown into one of the world's most successful consumer goods companies. In fact, 150million times a day, someone somewhere chooses a Unilever product.UBL have a portfolio of brands that are popular across the globe - as well as regional products and local varieties of famous-name goods. This diversity comes from two of their key strengths: Strong roots in local markets and first-hand knowledge of the local culture. World class business expertise applied internationally to serve consumers everywhere.

2.6 Unilever Goals

The goals of UBL are:

Ø  To manufacture high-standard products.

Ø  Promoting products to the highest extent

Ø  Producing large volume to achieve production cost economies.

Ø  Enabling quality products to be sold out at obtainable prices.

2.7 Unilever’s Contribution

Unilever Making a positive contribution to society through their brands, the commercial operations and relationships, their voluntary contributions to the community and through their wider engagement with Bangladeshi society.72% of the company’s value addition is distributed to the Government of Bangladesh.UBL operations provide employment to over 10000 people.

Chapter- 03

Product and Manufacture

3.1 Manufacturing

In Bangladesh the company operates in four distinct product categories. These are:

·         ™ Fabric Wash

·            Household care

·            Personal care

·            Foods

The descriptions are given below:

3.2 Fabric Wash

§  Wheel Laundry Soap

§  Wheel Washing Powder

§  Wheel Power White

§  Surf Excel

3.3 Household Care

Ø  Vim Powder

Ø  Vim Bar

Ø  Vim Liquid

3.4 Personal Care

v  Personal Wash

v  International Lux

v  Lifebuoy Total

v  Dove bar

v  Lifebuoy Liquid soap

3.5 Skin Care

      Fair & Lovely Multivitamins

      Fair & Lovely Body Fairness Milk

      Fair & Lovely Ayurvedic

      Pond’s Age Miracle range

      Pond’s Daily Face Wash range

      Pond’s Cold Cream

      Pond’s Perfect result Cream

      Ponds Dream Flower Talc

      Pond’s flawless white range

      Pond’s White Beauty Range

3.6 Hair Care

Ø  Sun Silk Shampoo

Ø  All Clear Shampoo 

Ø  Lifebuoy Shampoo

Ø  Dove shampoo

3.7 Foods

ü  Lipton Taaza Danadar 

ü  Lipton Taaza strong

ü  Lipton Taaza Teabag.

3.8 Raw Material

For manufacturing there product they collects their raw material from various sources from home and abroad. For produce their soup they collects raw material from Malaysia. They usually use palm oil to produce their soup. For producing their food products they collects raw material such as Tea from the well knows tea garden in Bangladesh.

3.9 Maintain SCM in manufacturing

They use SCM in manufacturing they collect the information about the demand and supply of their market and produce their product according with their demand. They maintain software in their warehouse and in the factory which tells them about the condition in the warehouse and the production capability in the factory. The inflows and outflows of their product in the warehouse.

3.10 Distribution

To distribute their product to the final customer they follow some steps:

They establish a huge marketing channel to distribute their product. There is 700000 outlets which were grouped into 27 different channels. Among these 27 different channels 9 have been formalized for development. These channels consist of both urban and rural areas. 

Chapter- 04

4.1 Supply Chain Management

The   Supply   Chain   Director   (SCD)   who   is   in   charge   of   planning, buying, manufacturing and distributing heads Supply Chain Department. The supply chain process constitutes a series of important activities ensuring smooth delivery to the consumers. Supply chain process led to joining planning and buying with manufacturing. This chain  is  further  extended  by joining  distribution  to  the  chain,  thus integrating both backward   and   forward  linkages.   An   integrated  supply  chain  will  give  them  the advantage  of  acting  with  speed,  enabling  them  to  keep  up  with  pace  of  the  ever changing  business  scenario.  At present, it is divided into the following functions:

ü  Manufacturing

ü  Engineering

ü  Company Buying

ü  Distribution

ü  Quality Assurance

ü  Planning

4.2 Efficiency and Effectiveness

Analyzing all the part of SCM we can say that comparing with others Unilever BD Ltd is very much effective and efficient in their market. They set a huge and effective marketing chain in their market they are very much careful about the production and the quality of their product. They are now the market leader and the secret behind their success is the effective SCM. From production to distribution they maintain a great balance. They are very much successful in their sector. By using effective SCM they made their success. They use SCM in their factory which tells them which product is on inflows and which is on outflow. They make the best use of their resources and make the product. They mean that if the customer is satisfied the production and the profit will also gain. That’s why they made an effective SCM which makes them very much efficient in the field of their market.  

4.3 Performance and measurement

Performance and measurement is the main part of our topic. In the case of Unilever the performance of that company is very good. Because of their various kind of product they are the market leader of most of the sector. Behind their success there are some factors such as:

Ø  The quality and control of their product in the market

Ø  On time delivery and shipment

Ø  Latest technology use to produce their product

Ø  Skilled employees and worker

Ø  Brand value

Ø  Their huge marketing chain

Chapter- 05

5.1 Question Analysis

Part A

 

                                                           

A. Question no 1: How does your company maintain the supply chain process?

We maintain our supply chain process by-

      Daily production and distribution planning, including all nodes in the supply chain.

      Production scheduling for each manufacturing facility in the supply chain (minute by minute).

      Demand planning and forecasting, coordinating the demand forecast of all customers and sharing the forecast with all suppliers.

      Sourcing planning, including current inventory and forecast demand, in collaboration with all suppliers.

      Inbound operations, including transportation from suppliers and receiving inventory.

      Production operations, including the consumption of materials and flow of finished goods.

      Outbound operations, including all fulfillment activities, warehousing and transportation to customers.

      Sourcing contracts and other purchasing decisions.

      Production decisions, including contracting, scheduling, and planning process definition.

      Inventory decisions, including quantity, location, and quality of inventory.

      Transportation strategy, including frequency, routes, and contracting.

      Strategic network optimization, including the number, location, and size of warehousing, distribution centers, and facilities.

      Strategic partnerships with suppliers, distributors, and customers, creating communication channels for critical information and operational improvements such as cross docking, direct shipping, and third-party logistics.

      Product life cycle management, so that new and existing products can be optimally integrated into the supply chain and capacity management activities.

      Segmentation of products and customers to guide alignment of corporate objectives with manufacturing and distribution strategy.

      Information technology chain operations.

      Where-to-make and make-buy decisions

A. Question 2: Does your company use any type of information system to perform supply chain activities?

Yes.

 An IT powered system has been implemented to supply stocks to redistribution stockiest. The objective is to make the product available at the right place and right time in the most effective manner. For this, stockiest have been connected through a inter-based network, called RS Net, for online interaction.

A. Question 3: If your company uses supplies chain information system, what function do you think as necessary for organization to maintain supply chain?

Supply chain information system is important because of-

      Substantial investment in IT-based sales system.

      Every salesman books orders on a palmtop.

      All order is fed into central database from the distribution center.

      Network is installed at all 3500 distributor point-which makes for accurate on- the- fly demand projection and helps to avoid stock- out loss

       

A. Question no-4: Does the performance of your company improved by using supply chain information system, and how?

Supply chain information system increase the business performance by-

      Reducing stock of inventory by giving proper information about the market demand.

      Informing suppler constantly about the status of inventory stock so that shortage of inventory is not created.

      Speed the product time to the market.

      Providing knowledge about what consumer wants and thus enables to ensure customer satisfaction and reduce churn rate.

      Reducing excess demand and supply gap.

      Ensuring cash utilization as well as asset utilization

      Based on the information of delivery date, the company deliver product to customer and thus supply chain information system improve delivery service of the company.

      Reducing inventory cost, redundant effort and increasing customer sale.

                                                    

Part-B

 

B. Question 1: Is your company’s web application electronically integrated with back office information system and database?

 Yes

 Our company’s web application electronically integrated with back office information system and database because of-

      The presentation layer interface to the applications need not employ the same architecture as the applications.

      You can use the prebuilt presentation layer delivered with packaged applications.

      The business and data logic in an application need not be separate from the delivered presentation layer.

      It is easy to manage the development and testing environments because asynchronous breakpoints provide natural testing points.

      Graphical tools are provided to ease development.

B. Question 2: Is your company’s database electronically integrated with upstream and downstream supplier or partner?

Yes

Our company’s database electronically integrated with upstream and downstream suppliers and partner for the purpose of –

      Planning and Managing supply and demand;

      Warehouse Management;

      Optimal Inventory control;

      Transportation and Distribution, Delivery and customer’s delight following the basic principles of supply chain management viz. working together;

      Enhancing revenue;

      Cost control;

      Assets utilization besides,

      Customer’s satisfaction.

B. Question 3: Dose your company exchange inventory data with supplier?

Yes

 Our company exchange inventory data with supplier to inform them about the status of inventory stock, which is analyzed by supplier to predict

      The delivery time of inventory.

      In which time the procurement and production of product should be commenced

B. Question 4: Dose your company exchange operational data with customer on business partner?

Yes.

Information on direct competitors, a company's labor statistics, and information on suppliers, accounting data and projection of needed resources may all be included in operational data. Data collected on direct competitors helps marketers make the products seem superior to competing products. Data on customers helps marketers create consumer profiles that help with everything from product creation, to distribution and advertising. Labor and accounting data help with internal control of finances and productivity.                                                   

Part-D

                                                                    

D. Question 1: Dose the downstream customer has compatible system in place to support internet based value chain activities such as order and f\information system?

Yes

The downstream customers/partners have compatible system in the place to support internet base value chain activities. The value chain system perform the value chain activities mentioned bellow-

      Inbound logistics include the receiving, warehousing, and inventory control of input materials.

      Operations are the value-creating activities that transform the inputs into the final product.

      Outbound logistics are the activities required to get the finished product to the customer, including warehousing, order fulfillment, etc.

      Marketing & Sales are those activities associated with getting buyers to purchase the product, including channel selection, advertising, pricing, etc.

      Service activities are those that maintain and enhance the product's value including customer support, repair services, etc.

Any or all of these primary activities may be vital in developing a competitive advantage. For example, logistics activities are critical for a provider of distribution services, and service activities may be the key focus for a firm offering on-site maintenance contracts for office equipment.

D. Question 2: Dose the upstream supplier has such compatible system too?

Yes

 The upstream suppliers have much compatible system to get competitive advantages such as-

      Identifying the relevant firm-specific activities within the generic value chain;

      Mapping the process flows, and

      Isolating the individual value-creating activities, by means of the flows.

Part-C

 

C. Question 1: Dose the firm has the ability to adjust technology strategy alignment to accommodate the use of IT and manage business process?

Yes

This is the skill that our supply chain manager needs to have to implement information technology systems. Technology enables our businesses in a supply chain to communicate faster and more effectively. Most of these technologies involve the use of the internet to allow for an exchange of relevant information between partners. As such, this technology benefits all of our partners involved by integrating data from various points in the supply chain, lowering supply chain costs, reducing paper usage (which saves both time and money), reducing data errors, and improving customer satisfaction by allowing greater product and delivery customization and shorter cycle times.

Two information technology solutions that are popular among supply chain and logistics managers are supply chain management (SCM) software and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Both of these software solutions are used in our supply chain management system.

o   A supply chain management software solution is one that is designed to automate the planning aspects of managing the supply chain, the logistics aspects, or both.

§  The planning aspects of managing a supply chain include: Identifying the most effective transportation means to ship and deliver the product; analyzing the supply chain in order to identify and eliminate any process bottlenecks; establishing production means and scheduling.

§  The execution aspects of managing a supply chain include: Establishing the price and availability of the product; Mapping out alternate product transportation logistics; ensuring the availability of resources needed for manufacturing.

§  Our enterprise resource planning software is designed to integrate various aspects of a company’s information technology infrastructure together into a cohesive whole. The goal of this integration is to improve efficiency by allowing broader access to data across a company’s entire information technology network, and to reduce costs by making disparate software systems unnecessary.

§  As a supply chain manager, our task will be to fully understand the benefits and disadvantages of both types of software, and to decide which one will best suit our supply chain needs. Furthermore, we will need to sell others on the need for our software choice, especially in situations where a preference for established software is deeply entrenched, or where the benefits of adopting a new software solution are not readily apparent.

§  We’ll also have to ensure that the software is sufficiently tested before it is released to our entire supply chain. Nothing will erode employee and partner confidence in our software choice faster than glitches and problems that could have been easily spotted and rectified with proper testing.

C. Question 2: Dose the firm has the ability to manage organizational change and supply chain restructuring on the internet based platform?

Yes

But before the change in organizational and supply chain structure we the managers understand the benefits and disadvantages of changing in organizational and supply chain structure, and used to decide –

                          “Is that will best suit for our supply chain and organizational needs”.

C. Question 3: Dose the firm have the ability to acquire expertise for managing internet based supply chain ability?

Yes

The firm has the expertise for managing internet based supply chain ability. Mention worthy expertise’s are-

      Minimizing the supply chain process, as measured from manufacturer to consumer.

      reducing much of the demand uncertainty that arises in the supply chain process

      Providing knowledge about how to make use of the data available in order to determine how long each part of the supply chain takes to accomplish its function.

Chapter- 06

6.1 Conclusion

Unilever Bangladesh limited is one of the leading multinational companies in Bangladesh. We had the opportunity to analysis on this company’s overall supply chain management. After extensive effort we get informative result about

·         The information technology used by the supply chain management of the company. Which serve the both inside and outside partners of the company.

·         Unilever’s upstream suppliers have much compatible system to get competitive advantages.

·         The firm has the expertise for managing internet based supply chain ability.

·         It is flexible to any change in organizational and supply chain structure.

·         The company has updated IT and creative management system and team.

·         The Unilever’s downstream customers/partners have compatible system in the place to support internet base value chain activities.

·         The company is used to exchange operational data with its customer.

After all we can draw conclusion by commenting that the company can improve its performance by using updated supply chain channel and management.

6.2 Recommendation

Ø  Margin to distributors is low. Company should focus in this direction to pass on more benefit to the distributors. If margins are increased from 4.76%, distributors will be more motivated.

Ø  The company can enable to increase its profit merging to 20.5% up then before by providing the best customer support, following customer driven business process.

Ø  In order to compete with local and cheaper brands, company should come up with competitive products that can cater institutes more effectively and efficiently with a basic Focus on pricing strategy.

When we visited Unilever we observed that the total environment of these company wonderful in a word. The manager is so friendly and cooperative to others. The clear idea of this topic of him attracts us very much.

6.3 Reference

Ø  Md. Rabiul Hossain (Asst-Manager & Learning) Unilever Bangladesh Limited ZN Tower Plot # 2, Road #8 Gulshan- 1, Dhaka 1212 Bangladesh. E-mail: rabiul.hossain@unilever.com

Ø  http://www.unilever.com.bd/

Ø  http://unilever.freeservers.com/html/company/history.htm

Ø  http://www.bangladeshdir.com/webs/catalog/unilever_bangladesh.html

6.4 Appendices

Organization Name: ........................................................................................................

Establishing year: ............................................................................................................

Location: ..........................................................................................................................

Interviewee: .....................................................................................................................

Questions

A. General

01. How does your company maintain the supply chain process?

02. Does your company use any type of information system to perform supply chain activities?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

03. If your company uses supplies chain information system, what functions do you think as necessary for your organization to maintain supply chain?

04. Does the performance of your company improved by using supply chain information system, and how?

B. Specific Question (backend integration)

01. Is your company’s web application electronically integrated with back office information system and database?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

02. Is your company’s database electronically integrated with upstream and downstream suppliers or partners?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

03. Does your company exchange inventory data with suppliers?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

04. Does your company exchange operational data with customers on business partners?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

C. Managerial Skill:

01. Does the firm have the ability to adjust technology strategy alignment to accommodate the use of IT and manage business process?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

02. Does the firm have the ability to manage organizational change and supply chain restructuring on internet based platform?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

03. Does the firm have the ability to acquire expertise for managing internet based supply chain ability?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

D. Partner Support:

01. Does the downstream customer have compatible system in place to support internet based value chain activities such as online order and f\information system?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No

02. Does the upstream supplier have such compatible system too?

            i. Yes                                       ii. No